Many of the ram-type blowout preventers developed over the past 60 to 80 years utilize rectangular shaped ram blocks that travel in a horizontal direction from opposite sides of the blowout preventer to meet approximately in the middle of a wellbore. The rectangular shape, with square or semi-circular sides, has provided a means to keep the height and weight of the ram blocks reasonable as compared to a circular shaped block. In order to form the gates for the rectangular ram blocks, sand casting is commonly used to manufacture the blowout preventer bodies.